CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"Jane, wake up."

Jane was being shaken awake by James. She wanted to punch him. Why didn't he just let her sleep? Her stomach was killing her, and her head wasn't feeling too great either. She buried her face into his pillow.

"Leavemealone," she said, her voice muffled by the pillow and slurred from the Firewhiskey.

"Jane, it's late; you need to go back to your own dorm," James explained. Jane groaned and sat up; she immediately fell back down on the bed.

"I don't—I don't think I can make it," she said. "The room's too shaky."

Jane heard Sirius laugh.

"Are-are you drunk?" James asked.

"Maybe, maybe jus' a-a little," she said, indicating "a little" with her index finger and thumb. "And it's his fault," she added, pointing an accusing finger Sirius' general direction. James looked at Sirius.

"Whoa!" he said. "I only gave her half a cup! You can't get drunk off that!" he defended.

"Looks like someone gave her a whole bottle," said their other roommate, Frank Longbottom, as he picked up the almost empty bottle. James looked at Sirius and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me!" he said, holding up his hands defensively.

"Jane, who gave you that?" James asked.

"One of the Prewett twins," she half-mumbled.

"And you drank the whole thing?" Peter asked.

"No, I'm not stupid," Jane said. "Remus drank some too."

The boys looked at Remus, who was passed out on his own bed. Jane could hear Sirius laughing again.

"That's still a lot, Jane," James said.

Jane wanted them to stop talking. Her head was killing her. She started to cry a little.

"I know," she whined, putting her hands up to her head. "My head hurts, James."

He rubbed her back a little.

"No kidding," he said. "Well, we can't take you to Madam Pomfrey; she'll know you're drunk, and all of Gryffindor could get into trouble."

"I think—I-I think I'm gonna be sick," Jane said, sitting back up a little bit. James' eyes got wide.

"Not on my bed you're not," he said, trying to help her stand up. James and Sirius, who was still sniggering a little, helped Jane to the bathroom. There, she proceeded to heave into the toilet bowl.

"Hold her hair back for her," James said. Sirius looked at Jane and then to James.

"I'm not holding her hair back; you hold her hair back! Better yet, make her hold her own hair back!"

In the midst of Jane's thoughts, she was able to pick out a few choice ones: A) This was really embarrassing, B) If she puked on her hair because of them, then she was going to kick them in places that shouldn't be kicked, C) She was never drinking again, and D) Had she really kissed Remus? Her memory was a bit foggy on that.

James pulled her hair back just in time for her to expel all the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl, which was mostly just the Firewhiskey.

Yup, definitely never drinking again.

After that, Jane managed to stumble over to the sink and wash out her mouth with water. She felt a little better, but not too much. And Sirius was still laughing.

"Sirius, I swear, if ya don't stop laughin', I'm gonna hex you," she said. This only caused him to laugh harder.

"Please, you couldn't even tell your wand from a stick on the ground right now," he said, "let alone hex me."

"Come on, Jane," said James as he helped her out of the bathroom. He walked Jane to his bed and pulled back the blankets for her. She crawled into the bed, and he pulled the blankets over her. She buried her face back into the pillow. James lay down next to her on top of the blankets. And once again, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Jane was awoken by voices. Loud voices. Merlin, she wished they would be quiet. She moved a little.

"Well, look who's up," Sirius said, beaming at her.

"Don't shout at me right now," Jane said. Sirius just grinned and walked over to the window. He slowly drew the curtains open, and bright sunlight flooded the room.

For a moment, Jane thought that she was going blind. She put her face back into the pillow and groaned. Her head felt like it had been split open.

"How're you feeling, Jane?" James asked from somewhere across the room.

"Dreadful."

She heard him snigger a bit.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"It's almost lunchtime," Sirius said. "You slept right through breakfast."

Jane was just thankful that it wasn't a school day, and she continued to lay there. If all hangovers were this bad, Jane couldn't fathom why anyone would ever drink. She was certain it had to be some form of self-torture that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Later in the day, when "dreadful" turned into "bearable," Jane finally got out of bed. She looked over to see that Remus was lying awake in his bed; he didn't look any better than her. The previous night, when they were all liquored up and having such a great time, the kiss idea had seemed like the most brilliant idea in the world. Now, with her mind clearer and sober, she had to disagree with past her; it had been an awful idea. She stared at Remus for a bit; maybe he would say something first. However, he stayed quiet, and Jane finally decided that one of them should break the ice.

"Hey, uh, Remus?"

"Hmm?" he asked, still looking at the canopy of his fourposter bed.

"Do you, um, remember what happened last night?" she asked, not looking at him, her cheeks burning as they flushed scarlet. Remus sighed, thinking on how to respond for a second.

"I don't remember if you don't remember," he finally said, hoping that it was the right thing to say. Jane laughed a little, and the sound of it put him at ease.

"Deal," she agreed happily. "So, we're still friends, right?"

Remus shot her a grin from across the room.

"I can't seem to remember why we wouldn't be."